The invention relates to a dispenser cap, and particularly to a dispenser cap suitable for use as part of a spray product.
Spray products are well known and are used in a wide range of fields. In the domestic environment, they are used to dispense textile treatment compositions, including treatments for carpets and clothing; hard surface treatment compositions, including cleaning products and polishes; hair treatment compositions, including styling mousses and hair sprays; and compositions for treatment of other areas of the human body, including perfumes and deodorants, examples of the latter group of compositions including deodorant body sprays and antiperspirants.
The present invention is particularly suited to the application of spray compositions in the domestic environment, especially those require manual activation.
Spray devices commonly used in the domestic environment suffer from the disadvantage that they are vulnerable to accidental operation. In order to prevent this, such devices are often fitted with a cap or lid; however, such lids constitute an inconvenience in that they have to be removed before use, slowing and complicating the use the product.
As an alternative to removable lids, so called “spray-through caps” or sprayheads have been developed by the industry. Examples of such devices that also provide a means of preventing accidental operation are disclosed in GB 1,292,843, U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,730, U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,842, U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,149, U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,778, and EP 1,219,547. In these publications, a sprayhead is rotatable about a supply line from a fluid reservoir within the device. In one position, the sprayhead can be depressed to enable the contents to be discharged, but after rotation around the axis of the supply line, depression of the sprayhead is physically obstructed, thereby preventing discharge. A problem with spray devices of this type is that it is not particularly clear to the user when the device is correctly configured for use.
More complicated sprayheads are described in WO 00/66459 and EP 987,189. In these publications, an axially moveable annulus is used to shield an actuator at the top of an inner unit. In EP 987,189, the annulus is claimed to shield the actuator from being inadvertently depressed; however, it is clear that such shielding is only partial and that the problem of accidental release of the product is not entirely solved by invention disclosed therein.